Bulbophyllum breve Schltr., Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. Beih. 1 (1913) 730
Type: Schlechter 16563 (holo B, lost)
Epiphyte, shortly creeping, up to 10 cm high. Rhizome creeping, short. Roots filiform, flexuose, glabrous. Pseudobulbs ovoid-conical, narrowed to the apex, 0.8-1.2 cm by 0.4-0.7 cm below the middle; 1-leaved. Leaf erect, ligulate, apiculate, or very shortly notched, glabrous, 5.5-7 by 0.6-1 cm near the middle; base narrowed. Inflorescence 1-flowered, very short, with a few small, inconspicuous peduncle-scales. Floral bracts ovate, apiculate, distinctly shorter than the ovary. Flower erect, c. 1.2 cm across, shorter than the pseudobulb. Sepals oblong, apiculate, glabrous, 0.75 cm long. Lateral sepals oblique, up to near the apex tightly connate. Petals at the base shortly cuneate, obliquely quadrangular, very obtuse, glabrous, hardly longer than 0.1 cm. Lip immobile, oblanceolate-elliptic, 0.65 cm long, obtuse; base concave-auriculate; upper side minutely papillose. Column slightly curved; stelidia short, apically dilated and obliquely cut off, the margin irregularly incised-serrate, almost two times as long as the petals; column-foot almost absent. Ovary subsessile, cylindrical, glabrous, 0.4 cm long. (After Schlechter, 1913)
Colours: Flowers dark red.
Habitat: Epiphyte in lowland forest; 300-900 m.
Flowering time in the wild: September.
Distribution: Malesia (New Guinea).
Distribution in New Guinea: Papua New Guinea; see map 96-243M.jpg.
Cultivation: Warm growing epiphyte.